Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Reread, sequel to Children of Time.
Another banger by Tchaikovsky. It expands on Children of Time in a very satisfying way by uniting the characters and making them encounter new forms of consciousness. I could read ten more books like this.
Tchaikovsky flexes again his ability to imagine an uplifted species (in this case octopi1), their view of the universe, their approach to technology, their relationship with their creator and the way they react to first contact. Their biological differences, how their Crown and their Reach think independently, how they communicate emotionally, how they form a space-faring civilization by reverse engineering abandoned human tech, everything is meticulously imagined and fits together perfectly. The focus on linguistics, reminiscent in the best of ways of Arrival, is a lot of fun.
The books adds two more interesting perspectives by developing the character of the Kern AI and introducing a completely alien lifeform. Tchaikovsky navigates the interplay between all the different forms of consciousness effortlessly. Towards the end the complexity of the ideas becomes a bit confusing but I think it's fair game because the characters were confused about them as well. I also like the variation in the structure of the story, going from linear progression with big jumps forward to weaving past and present until they meet.
I'd say it's probably not better than Children of Time, but I still devoured. The hook for the next in the series is fantastic.
I found it weird that the book used octopi and octopuses↩